Some Old Friends at the Wedding on Sunday

We caught up with some old friends and colleagues on Sunday when we were at Chris and Jill's wedding. These were all people I worked and socialized with whilst at Lilly's Tippecanoe Labs when I worked there. They all also now work in Indianapolis but in different departments. It was nice to meet them all again, we really should meet them all a little more often really. It's a shame that we did not have Chris and Jill with us for the picture and it appears that Mike and Leslie had not yet arrived.


 

Sheri Comes to Visit

We have Sheri here again this week. She is teaching at Purdue. She is an old friend of Lynne's from her days in Madison, Wisconsin. She will be here until Thursday after which she will return home to her husband Bruno in Connecticut.

Good to have you here again Sheri.


 

Memorial Day Activity

Today was Memorial Day in the US, a day to remember lost love ones and fallen heroes.

Lynne and myself spent the day putting in the bed between the new fence and the road. It was a long day. Had to till the grass to allow for a slight regrading. Planted 48 shrubs and followed it up a coating of mulch. We were both very tired by finishing time (5pm). We are both really pleased with the outcome and have already had many positive views on both the new fence and the new shrubbery.

A huge thank-you to Lorraine who was willing to look after Anja today, this would simply not have been possible in one day without your help. Many thanks.

 

The New and Updated Front Garden Look

We have had a new fence put up around our front garden. This has been coming for a while. Our primary reason was to make sure that Anja did not take off one day and end up on the road. The road adjacent to our house is rather busy and since we will now be having toddlers around this house for another 2-3 years we thought it a wise investment.

We think it looks good, a full set of pre and post pictures are in a separate web album

 

Picture of Our Front Garden Prior to the Fence

 

Congratulations Chris and Jill

A big congratulations to Jill and Chris who tied the knot Sunday. A great day was had by all and it was nice to catch up with old friends.

 

A Poll !

Let me encourage everybody to have a little fun with this poll. We cannot believe time has gone so quickly. It's really simple to do. Click a button. I may not have much time soon for such activity!

Ooop Perhaps a Little to Liberal with the Cream

This was the scene as we came across it last night at 10.30pm. Long after Anja was put to bed she started crying. It appeared that whilst in stealth mode she was silently applying cream to the bottoms, legs and arms of all her dolls. She herself was also apparently in need to some cream. It was very funny!!

Let Me Experiment with the Cream

A Little Cream Never Hurt!

Happy Birthday Jonathan

Here is to the second birthday in our family this weekend. Jonathan, our brother in Sligo, will turn 33 on Sunday. It appears that I did not have a single photo of him on his own (oops bad photography I guess) so I show him here on the extreme right. Two of my other brothers, Aiden and Clive are also shown.

From all of us here in the US have a great weekend. See you next month. For those of you who may be interested, he also keeps two blogs, their family blog and a photo blog which I can truly recommend.

This Lady Turns 21 Today

Today is my sister's 21st birthday. Eilish - wishing you a wonderful day and an even better evening. She has been planning a party for many months now and is truly looking forward to celebrating with many friends and family. Sorry we cannot be with you, we are there in spirit.

Paul, Lynne and Anja.

Back from San Diego

Hi Everybody,

Hope you all had a great week, mine was busy but strangely enough relaxing at the same time. Busy because I was travelling (which is always awful) and relaxing since what I was doing in San Diego was a slight change from my normal routines. I was at a course!

So imagine how you feel when you get off a four hour flight and after lugging your luggage from the airport all the way out to your remote car parking space to discover that you have a flat tire! I no longer need to imagine this since I have lived it today. Even better...this is the first time I have ever changed a wheel on this car and all I have is one of those bicycle thin spare wheels that just get you to the garage. I had to drive 200 miles!! Throw in the fact that given these circumstances I was now going to experience the Chicago holiday weekend travel which originally I would have missed. Needless to say I was home a little late this evening. But I'm home now and feeling that Friday feeling!!

Got a couple of birthdays coming up this weekend (more later), will also be going to a wedding (more later) and we have Monday off so we are truely looking forward to a long relaxing weekend!

Hope you are all doing well. Thanks to those for leaving comments, will also get to email you all over the weekend!!

I'm closing with this joke which Davey emailed me....I liked it a lot given the geographic distance between us here in the US and our siblings in Europe

An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness
And sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in
turn. When he finished all three, he comes back to the bar and orders
three more.


The bartender says to him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw
it; it would taste better if you bought one at a time. "The Irishman
replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the
other in Australia , and I'm here in Dublin. When we all left home, we
promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days we all drank together."
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar and always drinks the same
way: he orders three pints and drinks the three pints by taking drinks
from each of them in turn.


One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars in
the bar notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the
second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your
grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss."

The Irishman looks confused for a moment, then a lights dawns in his
eye and he laughs.
"Oh, no," he says, "Everyone is fine. It's me..."
"...I've quit drinking!"

Happy Birthday Lorraine

Last order of business for the day...Tomorrow, Tuesday May 22nd, is our dear friends birthday. Wishing you a great day Lorraine. As always try to relax and take it easy but even as I write these words I know my pleas are hopefully futile. Lorraine is constantly on the go and for the most part helping others.

Cool Shot from the Weekend

I got this cool photo on Saturday evening. We were sitting in the back garden with some friends after a big meal and some drinks when the moon, albeit not in full glory, peered through one of the trees. It looked particularly interesting since it had too had company. Perhaps one of you scholarly people out there could tell us what the name of that star is?

Out of Town for a Few Days

Hi,

Apologies for no weekend update this time round, time just slipped away. I'm still rushing. I'm going to be out of town for a few days, so the posts may be thin this week. I'll be in California for work. A day in Orange County followed by two days in La Jolla which lies just north of San Diego. I'll be spending my last evening in San Diego itself so I may get to tour around a little. I may get to email a post or two but then again it may not happen.

Have a great week everybody.

Crossing the Finish Line

Shown Below are a few photos taken whilst I was running the Indianapolis Half Marathon. I may not have looked that tired but as we all know looks can be deceiving!

Running the Indy Half Marathon!

Aahhh!! - Le Weekend!!

Friday evening is my favourite time of the week. I don't believe it's any reflection on my job, I think I will always feel the same way on Friday evenings. It's got that sense of relaxation, a weight being lifted, time to switch off for a short time....not yet the weekend but the week is certainly over! I need not explain it more since I know you know what I mean...Nice.

Nothing planned yet for the weekend, but I'm certain it will get filled with lots, chores if nothing else! Some chores are enjoyable some are not. I like moving the lawn for example (an hour to myself with the Ipod) but I hate food shopping (time certainly not spent by myself)!

Lynne got back this evening safe and sound from her trip to Minnesota.Sitting down currently with a beer with a heightened sense of relaxation....Hope you all have a great weekend!

Enjoying the Evening!!

Just had a very relaxing evening with Randy & Lorraine who came over to sit and keep Anja and myself company for the evening in Lynne's absence. She is in Minnesota at a meeting. Weather was perfect, food was good (I threw some raw cow on the grill), we even had some wine! Anja certainly enjoyed the constant attention that Lorraine was willing to shower upon her!!

I know it sounds like we were celebrating Lynne's birthday without her. She actually called during dinner and was very envious of our gathering!

Shown below a previously unpublished picture of Anja looking very cute! Lindsay took this picture one day. Lindsay is very good at getting the girls dressed up and taking photos, it's great, and her subjects are increasing in number since there is now also Ruby and in no time at all there will be our new baby in August.

Happy Birthday Lynne

Tomorrow, Wednesday May 16th, is Lynne's birthday. Happy Birthday Love.

Unfortunately, she will actually be hitting the road to go to a meeting in Minnesota, her last trip until the new baby arrives. She received her small presents this evening from Anja and myself but celebrations will need to be postponed until the weekend!

Posted below is one of my favourite photos of Lynne, taken on a beach in Tulum, Mexico. A trip we made in 2003.


















Happy Birthday

Paul & Anja!

Beautiful Weather in West Lafayette this Weekend!

Sunday afternoon here in West Lafayette and the weekend is almost over. It was been beautiful though. High 70s with no humidity. We will soon miss these days.

Got to a variety of things over the last couple of days. We went to breakfast on Saturday morning at Randy & Lorraine's house, test drove a couple of cars at the Subaru dealer (more on this later), went to Emma's birthday party yesterday afternoon (some of us stayed very late indeed, which has left the mind a little fuzzy today). Lots of Additional photos can be found in a Web Album.

This morning Anja and I brewed a batch of beer (Raspberry Wheat Ale) while Lynne was at the Purdue Commencement (graduation ceremony). This afternoon we have caught up with some gardening chores (weeding, mowing, trimming, cutting etc etc).

I also managed to get a 5 mile run in, found out that leg muscles are still unhappy one week after running a half marathon....

Today is Mothers day here in the US. Bought Lynne something small on Friday and wrapped it up. Trying to get a 2 year old to keep a present a secret for two days is not trivial!! Despite a few hours of coaching before Lynne came back this morning, she wished Lynne a Happy Birthday upon giving her her gift!! Going to try cooking something nice this evening, Cod in an apple and cream sauce with rice and veggies..Have to see how it turns out!!

That's pretty much how the weekend has gone, we have been busy but it has been relaxing also.

We've Learned that Cake and Ice-Cream is a Big Hit with Two year Olds

The Birthday Girl could not resist a taste before the candle was blown out!!

The Trampoline was a Hit

Party Guests of Various Ages!!

My Favourite Shot

This was my favourite shot of the day. You have to know Emma really, she is a little obsessed with shoes. All children her age have to give up their shoes upon entering their house for Emma to try on....

Off to Another Birthday Party

Photography Habits...Daisy Being Left Behind!

It's funny how things change...Tonight I was scrolling through some old photos and I found it funny, but not surprising, how we had taken so many photos of Daisy our dog before Anja arrived. Then it all dried up. She is still in many photos, in fact most of our photos have a tail, a leg or a snout or something.

Photography habits are notorious really. A million shots of the first born which then drops exponentially as subsequent children arrive. I would and should of course promise at this point that I will do it differently when we have our new baby in August, but then again I have just scrolled and scrolled and scrolled through so many photos and know already that I will also fail....

Thoughts?

Daisy back in January

Happy Belated Birthday Wishes to Ella

Happy belated birthday greetings to Ella, our Niece, who turned another year last Sunday. Ella, sorry we missed it (again) Ella. Our love to you and Anja sends her greetings!

















As some of you know, I have started a long overdue task, that of writing down everybody's birthday in one place. When it was just myself and immediate family I could manage it, albeit I still routinely forgot to send wishes. In any case, I have now started and hope to offer our wishes more diligently in the future. So if you wish your birthday to be recorded via these blog pages, let me know the date.